It's Unlocked
by Megwill
Summary: So much had changed but not enough. Everything had changed, yet in reality nothing had changed. Not one damn thing.


Tonight it was him again, his fault that she couldn't sleep but all she saw was his face, his eyes looking back at her as she walked away from him at Reagan Int. airport. As they walked away from each other and all that could be. They walked toward tomorrow and lots of long nights apart.

_If you're standing with your suitcase  
>But you can't step on the train<br>Everything's the way that you left it I still haven't slept yet_

She wandered around the apartment near tears, but holding back, holding in. She was ready to admit she was wrong when she saw him at the coffee cart. God she was happy to see him. She wanted to tell him what she had realized while she was away, while they were apart. Though, he pulled out his cell and showed her Hannah.

Their conversation was on repeat in her head as she wandered around her apartment alone tonight. So much had changed since that moment. Since Booth pulled out his cell and showed her Hannah. Brennan's heart had a massive coronary, but Booth didn't even see her try to hide the pain her crushing heart caused her. She tried hard not to show it and tried harder to be happy for him.

"_Serious as a heart attack."_ _Booth said._

"_Heart attacks are very serious." She stammered out._

"_Yes Bones, yes they are." Booth said._

Brennan sat down on the couch beer in hand, alone. Yes, so much had changed and yet not enough. Brennan exhale as she sipped on the beer. This type of heart attack – a massive coronary that she suffered from had affected a main artery. They called this type of coronary the widow maker.

Yeah, things had changed. She didn't have celebratory drinks with her best friend anymore. Instead, she drank alone at home because things had changed. Though, she had allowed them too. She had turned him down. He had moved on. Her name was Hannah. He loved her and she loved him.

_And if you're covering your face now  
>But you just can't hide the pain<br>Still setting two plates on the counter but eating without ya_

Brennan finished her drinks and lay in bed thinking. If he loved she and she loved him. What had _they_ been? Had _they_ been anything at all? She felt like something was wrong, their partnership wasn't right. She felt like she was broken though she wasn't. And wasn't the old saying _if_ _it ain't broke don't fix it?_ Was there anything to fix to begin with? Why had she turned him down?

Truth is she had never meant too, it had just happened. How? She really didn't know and she didn't think he did either. It was just one of those unspoken things that was just theirs. The truth hurt and she knew just how bad now.

She was too late, a twist of fate just too damn late. Too damn late. She sighed; a lesson learned she'd burned her bridges. Now she only stood back and watched as everything went up in flames. The smoke overwhelming her with its opaque black soot, she was coated in it.

Her mind continued to race. _"We've worked around bigger things." _Boothsaid as they both stared at the Mastodon in the Jeffersonian.

_If the truth is you're a liar  
>When you say that you're okay<br>I'm sleeping on your side of the bed going out of my head now_

They sat at the Founding Fathers arguing over chemical reactions in the brain. She said love was only chemicals reacting; nor epinephrine, epinephrine, and serotonin. He said she was wrong; love was that feeling inside that made it feel transcendent and eternal. Why the man in their case died in his lovers arms. He couldn't let go, love wouldn't let him. He didn't want to leave her alone.

She argued that if he left her or she left him at least one person would have survived. He only smiled at her and told her they didn't want to leave each other. She wondered why? He told her that it was like a rule, a rule of love.

Hannah suddenly came in the bar and Booth left with Hannah to go out to dinner. Brennan sat alone as she stirred the drink in front of her and sighed. Everything had changed, but nothing had changed and that's what hurt the most.

She looked to the empty bar stool next to her and inhaled and exhaled. Angela was right they were in a relationship, just not a sexual one. She could see that now and was done pretending that she didn't understand or see it, because she did. She saw that everything, yet nothing had changed _because they were still in love. And he taught her that true love remains the same._

_And if you're out there trying to move on  
>But something pulls you back again<br>I'm sitting here trying to persuade you like you're in the same room_

She watched him as Hannah explained sex and fig trees. What happened to being a prude? Whatever. She listened as Hannah called him by a name he hated. Listened as Hannah explained how Booth arrested her. Booth had arrested Brennan before too.

She listened and wondered if Booth really did love Hannah? He had called Brennan baby before, arrested her before, and told her he just knew. But what did that mean, if anything? Only that love wasn't what Booth thought it was because he obviously didn't know.

_And I wish you could give me the cold shoulder  
>And I wish you could still give me a hard time<br>And I wish I could still wish it was over  
>But even if wishing is a waste of time<br>Even if I never cross your mind_

So, Hannah didn't need help moving in. She traveled light, but she didn't know what to get Booth as a house warming gift. Enter Brennan and her rotary phone idea. Brennan watched as they kissed and got up leaving. She got to the door when Booth ran from one woman to the other.

_I'll leave the door on the latch  
>If you ever come back, if you ever come back<br>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat  
>If you ever come back<em>

He smiled at her as she managed to form a tight smile in his direction. _"Bones!"_ She turned to face him only he had nothing to say. Only waved holding up a bow, _"See you tomorrow." _

"_Tomorrow." She repeated back._

She smiled and walked out of his door and down the hall. She wanted to hate him, but she couldn't right now. Right now she wanted to be where the blonde woman was. She wanted everything back to how it once was. She could easily hate him, but she wasn't over him and worst yet she knew he wasn't over her.

_There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on  
>And it will be just like you were never gone<br>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat  
>If you ever come back, if you ever come back now<br>Oh if you ever come back, if you ever come back_

Once home she wanted to call Angela, but didn't. Cam had commented on how little Hannah had owned. Brennan didn't care how much she owned she just wished she kept it out of Booth's place. Hodgins noticed that Hannah was what Angela would call 'hot' and Angela noticed Booth looked happy but she didn't say that to Brennan.

Brennan didn't care even if time was ephemeral just as relationships. She wasn't going to push him away because he hadn't pushed her away. It sounded childish, it was, but it was the truth. Sweets noticed the tension; he didn't underestimate Dr. Brennan or Booth's relationship. It seemed they had faith in their selves as well. As Brennan seemed to remember, _"They had worked around bigger things before."_

_Now they say I'm wasting my time  
>Cause you're never coming home<br>But they used to say the world was flat but how wrong was that now_

Brennan knew by leaving her heart wide open it was still susceptible to damage. She was ready to take that chance though, ready to risk it. She would allow her heart to break if only to hear the sound of the loud pieces shattering, confirmation-that he had her heart and they were in love. She would allow it to break, because if it broke that meant there was something there to fix. She kept herself open to possibilities.

_And by leaving my door open  
>I'm risking everything I own<br>There's nothing I can lose in the break in that you haven't taken_

Brennan had everyone over for dinner. Chicken was on the menu and Booth had her name each bone as he told everyone to watch. As if it were a neat trick, it wasn't. That case was hard. The Eames case was about a doctor, much like Brennan she had no one but she had always had her partner.

Had, that is. Lauren died and left her partner behind, he like Booth had tried to tell Lauren he loved her. Lauren didn't listen she held onto her pride and went her own way. Lauren loved her partner, but couldn't bring herself to voice the words. Strange, she didn't even believe in love, transcendent and eternal. That is where Brennan and she were different. Lauren had died with regrets. She had regretted never telling her partner she loved him. Brennan had to tell Booth.

So, after he saved her from being hit by a car and dying the same death as Lauren. She told him. She remembered back to that conversation driving in the pouring rain, she told him.

"_I got the signal Booth." Brennan said._

"_I'm not really getting you here Bones, what signal?"_

"_Micha said that we all get signals from the universe." and it spilled out._

"_Who is this Micha guy again?"_

"_The night watchemen."_

"_Of course."_

"_I don't want any regrets Booth."_ _There she said what she needed to say hands shaking and heart wide open. She exhaled studying him as he sighed closing his eyes for a millisecond._

"_I'm in a relationship Bones and Hannah, she is no consolation prize_." _He said and her tears fell in cadence with the rain. They raced pulsing down her cheeks one after the other. _

"_I understand, you moved on. My whole world turned upside down, its okay. I can learn to adjust."_

He looked at her, she looked pathetic and he felt empathy for her. _"Do you want me to call someone? Bring you somewhere?"_

"_No, I'm fine. Alone." But she wasn't fine he knew that and she knew that. It hurt, love hurts.  
><em>

_And I wish you could give me the cold shoulder  
>And I wish you could still give me a hard time<br>And I wish I could still wish it was over  
>But even if wishing is a waste of time<br>Even if I never cross your mind_

Brennan walked up to her friend Micha. She remembered their conversation too.

"_So, how did it go?" Micha asked._

"_I'm sad, I cried. But I felt something."_

"_Everyone has their own sad story Dr. Brennan. But it's so much better to have felt something than nothing at all." Micha said and Brennan smiled and walked into her office._

_She picked up a paperweight and fingered it a moment. Micha had said it took three days for the world to turn right side up and for the human's eyes to adjust from seeing the world through glasses that gave them a distorted view of the world. It was upside down._

"_Three days." She whispered to herself. "Three days for the world to turn right side up."_

I'll leave the door on the latch  
>If you ever come back, if you ever come back<br>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat  
>If you ever come back<p>

Brennan lay in her bed, so much had changed yet not a thing. He said he loved Hannah, did he mean it? He had also said he had just known from the very beginning. So, how was she supposed to know if he was telling the truth? Damn him! She wasn't over him, and she wasn't adjusting at all.

_There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on  
>And it will be just like you were never gone<br>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat  
>If you ever come back, if you ever come back now<br>Oh if you ever come back, if you ever come back_

She remembered another conversation at the Founding Fathers. She heard herself, _"But how do you_ _know?"_

"_Because you can love a lot of people in this world but there is only one you love the most."_

"_What if you missed your chance with that person?" she asked and he understood._

_If it's the fighting you remember or the little things you miss  
>I know you're out there somewhere, so just remember this<br>If it's the fighting you remember or the little things you miss  
>Oh just remember this, oh just remember this<em>

"_Oh Bones, that person isn't going anywhere."_Because he wasn't and neither was she.

_I'll leave the door on the latch  
>If you ever come back, if you ever come back<br>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat  
>If you ever come back<br>There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on _

She found herself taking an empty bar stool next to him. She only sat quiet as he ranted and raved. When he was done he gave her a choice _"So, you either walk out that door right now or sit here with me and have another drink."_

"_Those are my only choices?"_

"_Yep, that's it take it or leave it Bones." He said and she raised her hand with him for round number two._

_And it will be just like you were never gone  
>There'll be a light in the hall and a key under the mat<br>If you ever come back, if you ever come back now  
>Oh if you ever come back, if you ever come back now<em>

"So, they drank together side by side at their local bar. It wasn't a celebratory drink, but it was a start. Together again, not three stools or one empty one but two bar stools and both were occupied. So much had changed but not enough. Everything had changed, but really nothing had changed. 

_And it will be just like you were never gone_  
><em>And it will be just like you were never gone<em>  
><em>And it will be just like you were never gone<em>  
><em>If you ever come back, if you ever come back now<em>

Because true love remains the same.

* * *

><p>oh how corny ha<p> 


End file.
